This week’s readings managed to perfectly articulate the concept of all of us participating in what we’ve labeled as “patriarchy”. Allen Johnson manages to deconstruct the idea that patriarchy is solely just men refusing to acknowledge their privilege or negating their oppression towards women. It is a much broader problem than that and it becomes clear that women are just as likely to participate in patriarchy as men. As it is a system which wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the oppressors as well as the oppressed. I love the way Allen challenges the phrase that we hear people throw around every day, “we live in a society..” or the many people who blame “the system” for behavioral injustices committed against them, whether that be due to their race, gender or economic background. It takes a very insightful person to recognize that blaming “society” for the way people treat others is lazy at best and devoid of all accountability at worst. WE create society, with every decision that we make, the roles we choose to fill, or the injustices that we either conform to or ignore. This excerpt from Allen Johson’s, “Patriarchy the System” perfectly encapsulates this concept, “‘the system’ serves as a vague, unarticulated catch-all, a dumping ground for social problems, a scapegoat that can never be held to account and that, for all the power we think it has, cannot talk back or actually do anything.” This shows how much power we give a concept that ultimately cannot change on it’s own. It merely possesses life because WE do, like a parasite and its host. It is our job to eliminate this parasite, not feed it in hopes that we can somehow tame it, or that it leaves on its own. This is illogical.

In the same vein, I loved the writer’s exploration on how patriarchy negatively affects men as well as women, proving what so many feminists have been arguing for YEARS; men are better off without patriarchy. Under these circumstances, men are pressured to appear, act, and REACT in ways that might not come naturally to them but they deem as “necessary” in order to conform into what is “socially acceptable” for a man. Whilst I don’t consider this oppressive, feeling stifled is a breeding ground for anger, violence, and rebellion. Which no doubt explains why men seemingly choose to be willingly ignorant of the problem as sensitivity is frowned upon by other men and even women. Turning a blind eye is much easier than going against the grain, even if it means that you’re doing the wrong thing morally, this is called the path of least resistance. “The path of least resistance in such a situation is to go along and not make any trouble, to not get in the way of another man making use of a woman, to not risk being accused of siding with a woman against a man and thereby appearing to be less of a man himself.” Allen explains.

Nazir’s post sums up this concept perfectly. They chose a quote from Toni Morrison that states, “The enemy is not men. The enemy is the concept of patriarchy, the concept of patriarchy as the way to run the world or do things.” The second we stop blaming our problems on this intangible concept is the moment we’ll finally be free from it. When we put the energy that we do into pointing fingers and direct that at ourselves, is the moment our introspection will lead us in the right step to unlock the chokehold that patriarchy has on us ALL.